Magic+School+Bus+Gets+All+Dried+Up

Asuman Engin http://670.wikispaces.com/Engin%2C+Asuman T. Sun-ah Kwon http://670.wikispaces.com/Kwon%2C+Tania || ||
 * || =Magic School Bus Gets All Dried Up Game=

Overview
You are in the desert with your teacher and classmates. You don't see any water, food, or shelter. How do animals like a roadrunner, tortoise, Gila monster, coyote, or kangaroo rat survive? Do you know that scarcity is a way of life in the desert? Have you ever had a teacher like Ms. Frizzle who urged you to take chances and make mistakes? Have you ever seen a school bus transform a student into a desert animal?


 * //The Magic School Bus//** by [|Joanna Cole] is a series of books that teach scientific concepts to young children. There is also a television show that airs on [|Discovery Kids].

We will design for our project an electronic game with animation that will improve students' understanding of desert life and the various adaptations. In the Magic School Bus “All Dried up” game, you will learn about the weather, animals and terrain of the desert . Players will get to experiment with different variables such as the temperature while determining what animal they've become as well as what adaptations different animals and plants have to help them survive in the desert.

Something is wrong with the bus, and it's transformed you into an animal! You don't know what kind of animal you are or how you will survive in the desert. Using your senses, you will get clues as to what kind of animal you are and what adaptations that animal has to help you survive living in the desert. The bus' dashboard has a map where the player can choose between several different locations. The bus could transform you into a kangaroo rat, camel, sandgrouse, fennec fox, thorny devil, desert tortoise, or caracal. If the player requires assistance, then a character from the television show is available for clues. Ms. Frizzle will also be part of the game to provide guidance and instruction when necessary.

Instructional Objectives

 * Adaptations in physical structure or behavior may improve an organism’s chance for survival. As a basis for understanding this concept:
 * 1) Students know plants and animals have structures that serve different functions in growth, survival, and reproduction.
 * 2) Students know examples of diverse life forms in different environments, such as oceans, deserts, tundra, forests, grasslands, and wetlands.
 * Plants and animals meet their needs in different ways. As a basis for understanding this concept:
 * 1) Students know different plants and animals have external features that help them thrive in different kinds of places.
 * 2) Students know both plants and animals need water, animals need food, and plants need light.
 * 3) Students know animals eat plants or other animals for food and may also use plants or even other animals for shelter and nesting.

Learners
This game is designed for elementary students between ages 6 - 10 (grades 1 - 5). Teachers can use this game as a source in science classes and parents can use it as a fun activity for their children at home. Regardless of the students' enthusiasm for the subject, all children that have encountered the television series or read the Magic School Bus books have been enraptured by Ms. Frizzle and her bus.

Context of Use
This will be a single player or team game that can be played both in the classroom or at home. Because of the size and complexity, it will be best on CD-ROM. We intend to design this game to be played more than once since there is a lot information to learn about deserts. Most elementary schools now have either a computer lab or a few computers with headphones in each classroom. To ensure that the players do not disturb other classmates, a sufficient number of headphones should accompany each computer. However, in many classrooms, computers already have headphones because many games require sound in order to play them properly.

Before the game begins, the player will see the Magic School Bus, Ms. Frizzle, and the class. Players would get some basic instruction so that they know how to play and the object of the game. Because of the depth and complexity of the concepts to be introduced, the game will take an hour or more to play. However, if at any point the player wishes to stop, he can save and exit the game. Once the player determines what kind of animal he has become and the animal's adaptations, the player will have won the game and can explore other parts of the game. When played in a classroom, the game could help reinforce previously taught concepts. If played at home, it can help introduce or reinforce these concepts. Most of the time, the game would be played by a single person. However, in the majority of classrooms, there are few computers and limited time for the students to play on them. The game could be played by two people working together as a team to win.

Scope
Game time could take up to an hour or more, however players can save individual games under separate names in order to resume playing later. The game will encompass five different deserts across the earth - Great Basin, Sahara, Antarctic Desert, Gobi, and the Great Sandy Desert. The player will learn about different animals and plants that live in these different locations. Each desert will be limited to just a few animals in order to focus on the ones included. This game is a branching story and will have 5 main branches with at least 3 screens for each branch.

Object of the Game
The player must determine exactly what desert animal he transformed into and what adaptations that animal has by using as few clues as possible.

Competing Products
[]
 * 1. The Great Desert Race:**

The Great Desert Race: The journey across the Lost Desert has often proved to be a difficult one. The harsh winds, endless dunes of sand, and relentless sun have daunted many a traveler. Four veterans of the desert, Tomos, Nabile, Brucey, and Osiri, are now determined to show they are the best at navigating across this treacherous land. In this game, the player can encounter some of the problems like sandstorms. However, the player has no opportunity to learn much else about deserts.

[] Most animals have developed some sort of natural camouflage that helps them find food and avoid attack. It is similar to our game because in nature, animals need every advantage they can get to insure their survival, desert animals too. The specific nature of this camouflage varies considerably from animal to animal. In our game, the player will learn also about the animal's characteristics such as warm blooded or cold blooded. One adaptation to survival is camouflage, but there are plenty of others that are not shown in the Find the Hidden Animals game.
 * 2. Find the Hidden Animals:**

[] At night, you can hear the animals but you can't see them. Click on a number and listen and listen to the animal sound. Try to find the name of the animal that made the sound in the menu. To win, the player must accurately pick all 20 animals. This game is similar to our game because the player has to find the animal. While we do not focus on sounds, our game has much more depth and complexity. The player receives small clues to help them determine what animal they have become. In addition, the player must find out what adaptations the animal has in order to survive the desert conditions.
 * 3. Who Am I?**

[] Here you can set up a safari with many different desert animals and plants. You are given some money and have to keep your safari place from going under. You must make sure that poachers don't kill your animals, and animals have enough food, water, and shelter to survive. If you have questions, you can talk to the wildlife ecologist or read the guide. While this game is very similar to our game, it does not teach anything about characteristics or adaptations. Also, you only get to see Africa and not any of the other deserts around the world. For example, not all deserts are hot. The Antarctic Desert is very cold. made the sound in the menu above. Correct guesses appear in the text box to the right. To win guess all 20 animal sounds. At night you can hear the animals but you
 * 4. Sim Safari**

Design Details
//Universal Elements// This game is based upon a children's book and television episode that teaches elementary age students about deserts and life in that environment. Both the book and television episode show simple cartoon characters that sometimes do wacky and colorful things like magically turning a bus into a lizard.

//Specific Elements// //Description of events// At the school, the player can see the Magic School Bus outside the window. When the player clicks on the bus, the dashboard with a map will appear. The map will label the five deserts and the type. When the player chooses Sahara, the player will be transported to that place. There the player will be magically transformed into either a spiny tailed lizard, a fennec fox, or an ostrich. The player must determine what the animal is and what adaptations it has. Clicking on the plants, the player will learn about acacia, grasses, and olive trees. When the player goes to the Great Sandy Desert, the player will become either a kangaroo, marsupial mole, or thorny devil. The player can also learn about spinifex grass, saltbush shrub, and desert oak. If the player goes to the Gobi Desert, the player could transform into a beetle gecko, or snow leopard. If the player chooses to go to the Great Basin Desert, the bus could turn into a bighorn sheep, a pseudoscorpion, or Western toad. If the player chooses the Antarctic Desert, the player could be transformed into an emperor penguin, leopard seal, or blue whale. The player could also learn about Antarctic hair grass, snow algae, or fungi.

Scene #1: Students are in the classroom around the diorama. If the player clicks on Dorothy Ann, she will say, "When it comes to deserts, this diorama has everything under the sun!" If the player clicks on Tim, he will say, "I think something is missing." Phoebe will agree and say, "What about desert animals?" If the player clicks on the fan, it turns on and blows gravel and sand.

The player will see the Magic School Bus through a window in the lower right corner. If the player clicks on the bus, a dashboard with a map will appear and the player can choose from The Great Sandy Desert (Austrailia), Gobi (China), Sahara (Africa), Antarctic Desert (Antarctica), and Great Basin (United States). The player can choose which desert to visit. Players can learn more by clicking on characters, plants, animals, or other parts of the scene.

The player or bus has suddenly changed into an animal. The player must determine what animal he or she has become as well as what adaptations that animal has to survive the desert conditions. Other buttons in the lower right corner gives additional information, takes player to the home screen and takes player to the previous screen.

Scene #2: Oh no! The bus has become an animal! The player now must figure out what kind of animal the bus is and what kind of adaptations the animal has to survive. Once the player figures out the answers, the bus will become normal again. Here, the player will realize that the transformed bus is not appetizing to the roadrunner because of the spines. When the “bus” crawls into a cool burrow, the player will be able to tell that the animal’s temperature also fell. This tells the player that the bus is a prickly, cold-blooded animal. The player figures out that the bus has become a horned lizardIf the player gets stuck, then he or she can click on the characters for clues. Dorothy Ann is waiting nearby with her research books.

Scene #3: Something is still wrong with the bus! The bus turned the player into another animal. The player can see he has fur. But how does a furry animal stay cool in the desert? When the player clicks on the animal's ears, the player can see that the blood flows up into the ears. As the player sees the blood flowing through the ears, he can see heat rising up from the ears into the air. Adaptation is necessary in order to not to be roasted in the hot desert sun. When the player clicks on the feet, the animal will run very fast.

//Characters//
 * //Ms. Valerie Felicity Frizzle:// She is a frizzy, red-headed teacher at an Elementary school. Everything she wears matches the subject of each adventure. She encourages her kids to learn and love science. Her slogan is "Take chances, make mistakes, and get messy!"
 * //Liz:// She is a green lizard with horns and the class pet. She is prone to getting herself into dangerous or comedic situations.
 * //Dorothy Ann//: She is a short blond haired girl with pigtails. She is a bookworm and uses her books to research whatever the matter at hand is. She frequently says, "According to my research..."
 * //Carlos Ramon//: He is a Mexican American boy who loves saying puns or jokes about the situation the class is in. Carlos is a hands-on learner, preferring to invent different devices. The class thinks most of his jokes as corny. Consequently, after he tells the class a particularly bad joke, they will generally respond with a "CARLOS!" said in unison. Carlos doesn't get along with Dorothy Ann.
 * //Ralphie Tennelli//: He usually wears a green shirt with the letter R and a red baseball hat. He is interested mainly in sports. He frequently daydreams in Ms. Frizzle's class.
 * //Wanda Li//: She is a Chinese tomboy who frequently doesn't know what to do to get out of her mishaps. She is one of the more curious students. She loves adventure and going where no kids have gone before.
 * //Arnold Matthew Perlstein//: He is a curly redheaded Jewish American boy. Despite being the only student in Ms. Frizzle's class who does not enjoy her magical field trips and would rather go on a normal one, he is fiercely loyal to his teacher. He frequently says, "I knew I should have stayed home today." However, in this book and episode, he suggests that the class go on a field trip to the desert!
 * //Phoebe Teres//: She has short brown hair and is frequently comparing her new school to her old one. She is the most compassionate student in Ms. Frizzle's class. She is very concerned with the well-being of animals and tried to start the organization called S.A.D.S. (Students Against Desert Scarcity). She believed that animals would not be able to survive the desert heat and lack of water or food.


 * //Keesha Franklin//: She is an African American girl. She is probably the most skeptical of the students and arguably the most level-headed and realistic.
 * //Tim Jamal//: He is an African American boy. He can usually be found with a notebook used for drawing pictures. He is also very observant.

//Technical Elements// Describe the:
 * Photoshop would be used to create the graphics and Flash or GameSalad will be used to create the mechanics
 * Windows XP, Vista, and 7, Apple Macintosh OS
 * .jpg, .gif, .png, .ps, .ai for graphics and .mp3, .wav, .fac, .raw, and .midi for sound
 * Cross compatible between Windows and Macintosh
 * Once finished, game files will be placed into zip folder

Motivational Issues
In all of the //Magic School Bus// books and shows, the stories are adventurous, educational, and have an element of fantasy and magic. Elementary students love adventures, fantasy, and magic. In our game we used this advantage and combined it with several elements of Keller’s  ARCS model to engage our players.

 ATTENTION  Most elementary students are very familiar with Magic School Bus books and television shows. They find them funny and interesting. In our game, //All Dried Up//, players will become a part of the story. The school bus turns into desert animals. This role play is intended to enhance the curiosity of players to engage them better. During the game, the player discovers unique features related to the animal, such as how to survive in the hot weather or to avoid becoming prey. For this reason, the player’s motivation increases as he has fun and learns interesting facts. The puns and comedic relief also help keep the player's attention. We also intend to use bright and interesting colors in our cartoons.  RELEVANCE  The lessons to be learned in this game match the real life interests and knowledge of our players. This game also fits second and third grade curriculum.  CONFIDENCE  This game allows the player to play as long as he wants until he finds the correct answer. The game is more like a puzzle and has no winners or losers. The more the student plays, the more he or she learns.  SATISFACTION  This game allows the player to play at his own pace and find new facts that are useful. Just like a puzzle, the player is trying to solve the questions. The students find satisfaction in determining the animal and adaptations. The player has complete control over which deserts to visit and where to click to learn new facts.

Design Process
We first needed to determine what other Magic School Bus games already exist. We looked at Scholastic, Incorporated's website as well as the CD-ROM and online games of magic school bus. Magic school bus series had already had a few games about oceans or bugs, which we analyzed. We decided to design a game for the book named //All Dried Up// that actually does not have a computer game version. When we were thinking about our game, we started searching for other online animal games. We met twice face to face and most of the time on online chatting to figure out our game rules. In order to get feedback we had a talk with our professor.

We learned that designing a game is not as easy as it looks from the outside. There are a great many details to remember when designing an electronic game. Most importantly, we realized we must think of everything from the players' perspective.